My PC is connected to Wi‑Fi, and the connection seems to work normally in Steam, Discord, and NordVPN. However, Chrome and every other browser behave as if the computer is offline and cannot open any websites. My phone works normally on the same network, so the issue appears to be limited to this PC. I already disabled "Automatically detect settings" under Proxy settings, but that made no difference. What else should I check?
4 Answers
Since NordVPN is installed, completely disconnect it and close the VPN application—not just the browser. Then restart the PC and test a website. If that fixes it, the VPN’s browser protection, DNS settings, or network adapter may be conflicting with normal browser traffic. Reinstalling or resetting the VPN network settings may help.
Try opening a private or incognito window. If websites work there, an extension, cookie, or browser setting is probably causing the problem. You can also reset the browser to its default settings. In Chrome, open Settings, search for “Reset settings,” choose “Restore settings to their original defaults,” and confirm. This should keep bookmarks and saved passwords, but it will disable extensions and clear some temporary settings.
I’m not very tech-savvy, and my PC uses a different language. Could you give me the exact steps or menu names to look for?
Open Command Prompt and test whether the PC can reach the router. Type ipconfig to find the Default Gateway, then run ping followed by that address, such as ping 192.168.1.1. If the ping works, the Wi‑Fi connection is fine and the problem is probably DNS, a proxy, firewall software, or the VPN. You can also try ipconfig /flushdns and then restart the browser.
Check whether the browsers are using Secure DNS or DNS-over-HTTPS. A VPN can sometimes interfere with that even when other applications still work. In Chrome, go to Settings, search for “Secure DNS,” and temporarily turn off “Use secure DNS.” Then restart the browser and test again.
I already disconnected and restarted the VPN before posting, but the browsers still could not connect.